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Explaining Social Behavior

WAS
£14.99
£7.49

Product description

This book is an expanded and revised edition of the author's critically acclaimed volume Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences. In twenty-six succinct chapters, Jon Elster provides an account of the nature of explanation in the social sciences; an analysis of the mental states - beliefs, desires and emotions - that are precursors to action; a systematic comparison of rational-choice models of behavior with alternative accounts; a discussion of what the social sciences may learn from neuroscience and evolutionary biology; and a review of mechanisms of social interaction ranging from strategic behavior to collective decision-making. He offers an overview of key explanatory mechanisms in the social sciences, relying on hundreds of examples and drawing on a large variety of sources-psychology, behavioral economics, biology, political science, historical writings, philosophy and fiction. Written in accessible and jargon-free language, Elster aims at accuracy and clarity while eschewing formal models. In a provocative conclusion, Elster defends the centrality of qualitative social sciences in a two-front war against soft (literary) and hard (mathematical) forms of obscurantism.

Some annotations, slightly dog-eared and rubbed and it has a POS stamp. otherwise in good condition.

Item details

Author(s):

Jon Elster

Condition:

Used: good

Edition:

2007

Format:

Paperback

ISBN-10:

0521777445

ISBN-13:

9780521777445

Number of pages:

484

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Title:

Explaining Social Behavior

Standard UK Delivery (£3.95 per order)

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About this item

This book is an expanded and revised edition of the author's critically acclaimed volume Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences. In twenty-six succinct chapters, Jon Elster provides an account of the nature of explanation in the social sciences; an analysis of the mental states - beliefs, desires and emotions - that are precursors to action; a systematic comparison of rational-choice models of behavior with alternative accounts; a discussion of what the social sciences may learn from neuroscience and evolutionary biology; and a review of mechanisms of social interaction ranging from strategic behavior to collective decision-making. He offers an overview of key explanatory mechanisms in the social sciences, relying on hundreds of examples and drawing on a large variety of sources-psychology, behavioral economics, biology, political science, historical writings, philosophy and fiction. Written in accessible and jargon-free language, Elster aims at accuracy and clarity while eschewing formal models. In a provocative conclusion, Elster defends the centrality of qualitative social sciences in a two-front war against soft (literary) and hard (mathematical) forms of obscurantism.

Some annotations, slightly dog-eared and rubbed and it has a POS stamp. otherwise in good condition.

Author(s):

Jon Elster

Condition:

Used: good

Edition:

2007

Format:

Paperback

ISBN-10:

0521777445

ISBN-13:

9780521777445

Number of pages:

484

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Title:

Explaining Social Behavior

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Europe: £8.00

Outside Europe: £15.00

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